A/N: Last chapter Sarah and Chuck finally got together as real girlfriend / boyfriend. Casey is actually relieved that they have done so; he will work with them to convince Beckman on Chuck's future roles.
Thanks for those that left reviews. Once again, people didn't like their conversation about him thinking Sarah needed to show commitment. Sarah did say something hurtful, the first thing she thought, as he hurt her feelings again, but she apologized for that later. For those that didn't like him being portrayed as self-centered here, that is exactly what he was in their relationship in the show, too. He expected her to conform to his wishes. Even the wedding, which is always the woman's big day and one where she should get what she wants, she didn't get that, she had to let him have the day he wanted. I really didn't like that. So, yes, self-centered in the show, but not called out. Here, a more open, sharing Sarah, calls him out. Sorry, if you don't like that.
As always, thanks to JohnnyRayChandlett for pre-reading and his opinions on this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own or make money from Chuck. If I did, Chuck & Sarah would have been together after she helps him find his father, or even earlier, and none of this would have been needed.
Prove Yourself
Chapter 8 – Briefing and Changes
Chuck had returned with Sarah after their meeting with Casey. He had sat at her desk typing on her laptop, capturing the details of what he had done in the previous two years. She had intended to just make him drinks and go and get a takeout, but when she saw how little he was mentioning about his contributions, she knew she had to help.
"Chuck, you are playing down your involvement. Making it sound like Casey and I did more than we actually did. I don't think many of the missions, if any, would have succeeded without your input."
He looks at her and, in a subdued voice, says, "Yeah, the Intersect."
She kneels beside him, takes his hand and looks him in the eyes. "No, Chuck, you, not the Intersect. The Intersect did sometimes provide information, but it was what you did with that information that made a difference. And a lot of the time, the Intersect wasn't involved at all; it was all you."
He blushes.
She leans forward and kisses his cheek. "My wonderful boyfriend is a hero, not a computer with legs."
He grins, "But I am that too, Sarah."
She kisses him soundly. When she pulls back, she says, "Self-deprecation is another thing I hope I can help you get over, Chuck."
He looks slightly dazed as he replies, "If you continue doing that, Sarah, my brain won't be functioning enough to self-deprecate; or do anything else, for that matter!"
She grins at him. "Thanks, Chuck."
She orders a delivery, rather than going out. She had thought that her being out would give him time to think, but now saw this as a joint exercise. "How to sell Chuck Bartowski."
Even from the start of their time together, he, not the Intersect, was making a difference. Saving General Stanfield, and everyone else in that conference room, from the bomb, was pure Chuck. Everyone would have died if he hadn't come up with that crazy idea.
She's still helping him, when the pizza arrives. "Sorry, Chuck, pizza again. I hope that's ok. The Chinese wasn't open."
Chuck turns around and teases her, "I don't mind eating your favorite. Again."
She's surprised at him saying that, but loves it, too. He hadn't teased her for so long. She grins and says, "Thanks, Chuck. Your favorite next time."
He smiles. "Maybe next time, we'll prepare food from scratch, rather than have a takeout."
She frowns. But I can't cook!
He notices her frown. "We'll have it at my apartment. We can cook it together. You and me."
"Chuck, you know I can't cook," she whines. Hey, when did I start whining?
He looks almost dreamy, as he replies, "You did, at that house we lived in for a mission."
Sarah cast her mind back. That was a wonderful time, at least at the start it was. She'd enjoyed just living in a house with him and the dog. She'd never felt so comfortable. Then she remembered how badly she'd treated him after the mission. "God, I'm so sorry about how I behaved after that, Chuck."
He shrugs, "You were just doing your job, Sarah."
A tear leaks out of her left eye. She grabs him and says, "Stop saying that, Chuck. I was a bitch. I'm going to do my best not to let anything like that happen again. I was trying to resist falling for you, and you suffered because of that. I honestly don't understand how you put up with me."
She kisses him and then continues, "But I'm so glad you did."
Chuck smiles. "I was in love. Sarah. You put up with a lot, when you're in love."
She snorts. "Putting up with things is not how I'm built, Chuck. I react badly, as you saw yesterday."
He holds her hands. "Well, maybe in addition to working on our fears and insecurities together, we can teach each other things."
"Like tolerance?" she questions, with a smile.
He grins. "Yeah, maybe someone who gives everybody the benefit of the doubt, can teach someone who trusts no one."
She grins back, "And maybe someone who trusts just one person, can teach that man some skepticism, huh?"
He laughs, then pulls her in for another kiss. This one lasts for a while, and starts to intensify, then she pushes him away and says, "Keep that for later, Chuck, we have pizza to eat."
He laughs. She's glad that he doesn't freeze, like he would have before yesterday. After all, they both knew how this evening would end.
After they ate, Sarah had cleared away the rubbish and then rejoined him to work on his list. By the time they'd finished, she felt it looked good. It showed off all his skills.
Before a night of passion, they both decided a walk would clear their heads of all the thoughts of past missions. She'd driven them to what they both regarded as their beach and they were walking by the water's edge.
There had been a lot of great times BP, but many were spoilt by her pushing him away. They'd talked about some. With her encouragement, he'd talked about how she had made him feel back then. Confused described the main feeling quite well, but hurt a lot of the time, as well. She felt awful about the latter. His rejection of her had felt bad, because she had given her heart to him, but what she had done for two years had been bad, too. Most of that was caused by her, unwittingly, giving him mixed signals, which also caused his confusion. She'd not realized it at the time, but looking back, with his thoughts from back then, she could now. It had been her inner battle. Her desire for him showing how she really felt, pulling him to her, and then her fears of being sent away, unable to protect him, pushing him away. How he'd coped with all that, she had no idea. Just another indicator of what a great guy he was.
Several times, one of them had stopped their walk and pulled the other into a kiss. The rest of the time, they talked and walked, holding hands.
Eventually, Sarah stops him and, rather than kiss, says, "Chuck, are you happy to go back yet?"
He looks at her, with twinkling eyes, "And make love to the most wonderful woman in the world?"
"She can go to hell. You're mine." She tries to give him an icy glare, but can't keep the smile from her face, giving herself away.
He starts to laugh, but she pulls him down and whispers in his ear, "I definitely want you to do that to me, though. More than once, hopefully."
That does freeze him, so she has to pull him off the beach.
When they reach the apartment, they are in each other's arms in a passionate embrace, in the lift and again as soon as she shuts her apartment door. They somehow make it to the bed, shedding clothes as they go.
Their love making is as good as ever, both satisfied as she lies with her head on his chest afterwards.
She lifts herself up and looks into those golden brown eyes that are glistening as much as she feel hers must be. She says the words that she thought she would never say. "I love you, Chuck Bartowski." It felt good saying it. "I love you with all my heart."
He pulls her up to him to kiss her. As he does so, he says, "And I love you, Sarah Walker, woman of my dreams."
The kiss is tender; a kiss that matches their feelings, a confirmation of that love.
All my heart!
The following morning, after showering, individually, to make sure they weren't late for work, they'd had breakfast and headed to Castle.
Sarah and Casey are now talking to the general without Chuck. When she. Chuck and Casey had discussed it, in the parking lot, all three thought he shouldn't be part of this discussion. The general seemed to have the same thought and had sent him away, telling him they'd let him know when to come back over from the Buy More.
"So, you're telling me that you failed." General Diane Beckman is looking pissed.
However, her saying that pisses Sarah off and, looking at Casey grinding his teeth, him too. He is too much of a rule follower to say anything, so Sarah has to point out the obvious. "In the same way a multi-million dollar training facility did. Yes, Ma'am."
Beckman visibly winces, then sighs and acknowledges the truth of Sarah's statement. "Yes, you're right, Agent Walker. That leaves us with the decision on what to do with him."
Sarah looks at her partner, who does now feel ready to talk, thankfully. "We have been discussing that, General."
Beckman looked at them both. "And what are you thinking?"
Sarah answers, "We've looked back over what he did for us, before the second download, what he brought to the missions..."
Beckman cut in, "Trouble and complications!"
Sarah isn't fazed by that. "And solutions we wouldn't even have thought of, both the things he did on the missions, but also sometimes improving the mission objectives. And he also gave us results, successes that we wouldn't have achieved without him."
Beckman looks at her for a few seconds and then says, "Is that it?"
Casey replies, "No, General. With the new Intersect, we think he can help more."
"How? You're saying he can't be an agent."
Sarah responds, "Ma'am, he wasn't an agent before, but helped make this the most effective team. With the new Intersect, he can learn new skills rapidly and find ways to solve the problems faster. We will be even better."
She notices Casey nodding and so does Beckman.
In a droll tone, Beckman asks, "Are you suggesting he will stay in the van?"
Sarah is not going to be derailed. "Sometimes, General. Sometimes we will be using his strategic and technical brain in other ways."
The general raised an eyebrow.
Sarah responds, "He has already demonstrated he can come up strategic solutions the NSA and CIA teams cannot. That can mean he stays here, coordinating while we, or other agents, go to different locations."
"A strategist?" Beckman questions.
Casey answers before Sarah can. "General, he does have a lot to bring to this team. We can send you a report showing how each characteristic has helped before and how we think Intersect 2.0 can enhance that, but a simple answer to that question is 'yes,' along with being a planner, field analyst, technical support and, much as I hate to say it, sometimes onsite support during missions."
Sarah then says, "He'll never be able to work alone, but he makes this team much stronger. To pick up on Casey onsite comment, he did that last year, but now he can immediately 'learn' how to solve technical problems. And do it immediately, too."
The general considers this and asks, "So why can't he join another team and do the same?"
Not expecting this, Sarah struggles to formulate an answer, but Casey steps in, "General, he only flashes when he is with, or at least working with, Agent Walker." He doesn't turn to her, but Sarah almost feels the next thing he says is directed at her. "She is what enables him to flash."
The general looks at Sarah. "And why is that, Agent Walker?"
She looks at the woman on the screen and replies, "Because he loves me."
The reply surprises her, "That was obvious before. Are you saying he can't flash when you are apart?"
Sarah doesn't want her to think they have to be together all the time, even though that would be great, because then she might insist on him being next to her throughout the missions. "Not necessarily, Ma'am, but it does seem to affect him when I am with other agents or marks. It seems that emotionally, he has to feel we are together."
The general frowns. "And you are okay with that?"
Time for some news!
"I am more than okay with that, General. I'm in love with him, too." Having said it, she actually feels relieved.
The face on the screen nods. "That was obvious, too. Does he know?"
Somehow, she manages to keep the shock from showing. "He does. We want to move in together." There, I've said it.
"About time!" mutters the general.
Beckman doesn't dwell on this, however. "Get that report to me today and, Agent Walker, the paperwork associated with your relationship change, too."
Sarah is still in a state of shock, not showing it, but completely frozen.
Casey asks the obvious question. "Do you want us to call Bartowski in now, or wait until you've read the report."
Beckman quickly replies, "I want to read the report first. If you get that to me today, we'll involve him tomorrow." With that, she ends the call.
Sarah finally looks at her partner. "That went better than expected."
Casey grunts and starts to pack up his gear. "She knew about your feelings for Bartowski, if that's what you're thinking. She could see it whenever he was in on the calls. Why do you think she activate the 49B last year?"
Sarah nods. "I know, but we never acted on it afterwards, though, so I assumed she would be surprised."
Casey explains, "She also knows you both work well together. Professional." He obviously thinks about what he's just said, and says, "Well, you are."
He continues packing his bag. "I'm going to my apartment to write my part of the report. Let me know when you've done what you want and we can pull it together."
"Chuck and I worked on a summary of what he's done for us. I need to include my thoughts and we need to pull it into the report with yours. Don't you think it'll be quicker to do it together?"
He grunts. "Not how my brain works, Walker. Capture first, then consolidate."
She smiles, thinking that is like him. "Okay. I'll be finished in an hour or so. I'll come to you then."
Another grunt and a nod.
Thinking about Chuck, she nervously asks, "Do you think she'll agree with us on his job?"
Casey looks at her. "I can't guarantee it, but she'd be a fool to break up this team and, certainly so if she throws away a working Intersect." He picks up his loaded bag. "Besides, she did say the team was back together again. I don't think that meant just to train him."
As she watches him walk away, she mutters, "I hope you're right, John."
Sarah is grateful that she no longer has to work in the Orange, Orange all the time. Having other agents there means she can get away more easily; take more time off. She still has to wear the stupid clothes when she's there, though, to keep up appearances.
However, she will be off for the afternoon. She and Casey had, as he put it, consolidated their reports into one and sent it to the general, so Sarah now had time to talk to Chuck.
She smiles, remembering her text conversation with Chuck after the call with the general.
You're not needed today. Talk later
It wasn't long before she received a reply.
Will I ever be needed?
That had made her laugh, but then she realized he may actually be panicking about that.
Don't panic. She wants to talk tomorrow
The reply was almost instantaneous.
Phew! Lunch today?
She had chuckled at that. She knew he would want to see her, but he also thought with his stomach.
Not today. I have to complete our report for her
Then she'd thought about updating him.
When I've finish, will be available. Call later?
Immediate response.
Sure
Now she is pacing up and down outside the Buy More. Having told him, an hour ago, that she'd be waiting for him at 3 PM, she hates having to wait. She knows he can get caught on his phone calls, so knows it's not his fault, but it sure is frustrating.
Finally, she's sees him walk out of the store. She rushes to him and grabs his hand, pulling him to her car.
They are in the car and heading out before he says, "Where are we going?"
"Bed, then we'll talk," she replies.
He looks flustered. "B-but, I only have an hour, Sarah."
She grins. "So, it'll be a quickie."
He grins at the comment, then he obviously realizes what is happening and the dreamy look that spreads over his face, tells her he is okay with this.
"So, you and Casey sent her a report detailing all our thoughts about my skills and your recommendations for jobs? I would have liked to see that before you sent it, Sarah." He almost sounded like he was whining.
She takes his hand and squeezes. "I know you would, Chuck, but you were in the Buy More and we urgently needed to send it. There's a printed copy on my desk for you to take away."
That brightens him a bit. "Thanks, Sarah."
They are both lying on the bed, naked. The urgent need for his body is satisfied, but she doesn't feel like moving from her Chuck pillow, so had no desire to get up to get the report. He can collect it on their way out.
She twists to be able to look at his face. "She wasn't surprised about us, you know."
He looks surprised.
She grins. "That's how I felt, too. Seems we were the last to know."
"What did you tell her?"
She leans up to look him in the eyes. She wants him to really get this. "I told her that I'm in love with you."
He beams.
She grins. "She said that was obvious, just like you being in love with me."
She sobers up a bit. "I also told her we want to move in together." She then smiles, "She said 'About time.'"
He smiles too, but still looks doubtful. "Did she put any restrictions?"
Glad that he was thinking this through, she says, "Just to complete the paperwork associated with relationship changes."
He can't keep his elation in. "Oh, God, Sarah we can be a normal couple!"
She pulls herself up to his lips. Before kissing him she huskily says, "I don't think we'll ever be 'normal', Chuck."
The kiss leads to a lot more.
Definitely better than just 'normal'!
"First, I want to thank Colonel Casey and Agent Walker for the report and recommendations. You obviously put a lot of thought into this." The general pauses while she takes a drink, obviously deliberately keeping them in suspense. " I read it yesterday and have thought about this."
Putting her glass down, she seems to take all three of them in. "I agree with you. Mr Bartowski here, is not going to be an agent."
Sarah feels a wave of relief. They all knew this was true, but having it confirmed was good to hear. She looked at Chuck and could see his relief, too.
Looking at Chuck, she continues, "I also agree with the range of things you can do to help this team. This range makes you somewhat unique." Noticing his grin starting to form, she quickly says, "I don't mean the Intersect."
Sarah watches as Chuck just nods. She is very proud of him at that point. Before, he would have said something inappropriate and ruin the moment.
Beckman continues, "For now, I am going to record that you are a Field Analyst, but also note your skills in strategy and planning. We will need all of these skills in our fight against the Ring."
That gets all their attention.
"We have now gotten information from one of the CIA agents leading their European Ring investigation. We want to act on that here." She pauses again, taking another drink. "This agent wanted to come and take over this operation."
Sarah is about to reply, but Casey beats her to it. "General, with all due respect, this team works well. Bringing someone else in as the leader will break that."
Beckman smiles at Casey's impassioned speech. "I agree with you, Colonel. I refused, so his information is being routed through me. You will both still report directly to me."
Sarah is curious. "General, if I may, can I ask who this agent is?"
"Certainly, it is Daniel Shaw."
Sarah notices Chuck flashing. She needs to ask him about that. She doesn't know this agent. "Thank you, General. I don't know him."
"I am considering missions at the moment, but may have one in LA first. I will contact you later this morning when I have the details." She then ends the call.
Sarah turns to her boyfriend. "Chuck. You flashed about Daniel Shaw."
He nods, but looks uncomfortable.
She pushes him, "Chuck, what did you see?"
He seems to be reluctant to talk, but seems to realize he has to. "He's a decorated CIA Special Agent, but he's apparently obsessed with hunting down the person who killed his wife, Evelyn. He seems to think that's someone in the Ring."
That is useful information, so why I Chuck reluctant to talk about it.
She has to know. "Why is that making you uncomfortable, Chuck."
"His wife was a CIA agent too, but she was suspected of being an informer for an enemy organization. It really brings the truth back to me. You could get killed on a mission, Sarah."
She didn't react to the second sentence. She is gripped with apprehension about the first. "A mole! When was she killed, and where?"
Chuck had obviously realized where her thoughts were going. The blood drains from his face. "I don't have a specific date, Sarah, but it was in Paris, 2005." He continues to look at her and finishes, "It was a termination."
Suddenly, Sarah can't stand. She collapses into a chair.
Casey has been listening to the two of them. When he sees her reaction, he says, "Walker, was that you?"
She is reeling from what Chuck has told her. She looks at her older partner. "Maybe."
Chuck has already turned to the laptop he's sitting by. He is tapping furiously. Suddenly, an image appears on one of the screens. Chuck has obviously found what he is looking for.
She gasps again. "That's her?"
Chuck nods. "Evelyn Shaw."
Sarah puts her head in her hands. "My Red Test."
She hears a grunt, then Casey's voice. "If she was a traitor, then he probably will be, too. I'll tell the general. We certainly don't want him here, but I'm not sure we can trust anything from him."
Sarah can't respond. She is stuck in her nightmare again. Paris.
Sarah feels Chuck putting his arm around her and leans into him, closing her eyes.
She's obviously thankful that Chuck has flashed and, with his help, she now knows both the name of the woman she had assassinated, but also that her husband is a threat. He wants to find Sarah and, probably, kill her. She will have to make sure Chuck knows how grateful she is, but for now she just feels overwhelmed.
How can this be happening?
A/N: I know they need information that Daniel Shaw has, but I never had any intention for him to be with them, in any capacity.
Next chapter, the missions start.
Please let me know what you think of this chapter in a review.